No longer is it simply beneficial to avail of the cloud for financing or accounting, rather it has become essential for those looking to cut down on the time spent managing their finances and get everything running a little more smoothly.

Of course, any new technology has its detractors. Understandably someone may be reluctant or anxious to put any of their business’ financial information or accounts onto a third party system, but the wide variety of solutions have come a long way in efficiency. As the cloud becomes more and more common, a business cannot afford to be left behind.

FinancialForce is a financial management system based in the cloud that many small businesses have made the move to, much like artists management agency, Bernstein & Andriulli, based in New York.

Managing an array of talent, including everything from producers to stylists and illustrators to hairdressers, Bernstein & Andriulli is a perfect example of an ever-rising business that is working with a variety of different people at different times. This of course requires sound and efficient management of finances.

Crucially, cloud-based solutions, regardless of their functions, can be used on the go and can be accessed anywhere. This is the crux of the technology that makes it so essential, particularly with FinancialForce and with it, business professionals can manage and monitor their accounts from anywhere. This can be useful for managing employees’ information and is especially helpful if your business works with independent contractors or telecommuting workers.

With a solution such as FinancialForce, the likes of Bernstein & Andriulli have cited many reasons for its use like greater visibility of day-to-day finances, tight and accurate reporting, automated invoice processing, and increased efficiency in communicating between departments. All this can be done whether in the office or on the go.

The company also avails of Salesforce for CRM (Customer Relationship Management), allowing them to connect their staff with their various clients in one solution for easy contact and sharing of information without hardware or software.

“They [the solutions] best suit our needs and we were able to customize enough for our industry,” explained Managing Partner, Howard Bernstein on the use of cloud-based solutions in the company. “Plus the ability to work remotely and have less down time,” he added on the benefits of both solutions. “It has worked out great for us”.

Like most technology, the cloud is constantly evolving and many companies are happy to move onto the next and best solution. FinancialForce is a prime example of this, having overtaken QuickBooks, the small business accounting software developed by Intuit.

Management consultancy agency, Trissential is another company that decided to make the move to the cloud, leaving behind QuickBooks. Using FinancialForce, the company is able to liaise and manage more efficiently its customer base with maintaining a strong CRM technique. Also, the cloud solution gives managers and controllers greater ease of use for archiving payments and receipts and approving expenses.

Meanwhile, Peddle is a company that provides an online platform with its website junkmycar.com, which helps people search for and buy and sell used cars. The website has a vast array of visitors with different financial information to manage and keep organized, a task that QuickBooks wasn’t quite able to do as efficiently as desired. So Peddle moved their operations to the cloud with FinancialForce, allowing them to create up to the minute financial reports for each customer, a feature that has proven very useful for the company.

Cloud computing is vast and just waiting to explored but don’t leave it too long or you and your business could be left behind.